Mary Jane Veloso’s Sister Flies to Indonesia; PH to Press for Second Review of Drug Mule’s Case
Celia Veloso, whose daughter Mary Jane has been sentenced to death in Indonesia, weeps as she addresses a rally at Mendiola on Friday. (photo by Bernard Testa, InterAksyon.com)
(UPDATED – 6:58 p.m.) MANILA, Philippines – Marites Veloso, sister of Mary Jane Veloso, will fly to Indonesia Friday evening to see the Filipina overseas worker, who is now on death row.
Marites, accompanied by representatives from the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), will leave for Indonesia at 8:55 p.m. via Cebu Pacific flight 5J-759 to visit Mary Jane at a detention facility in the Southeast Asian country, where capital punishment is carried out through firing squad.
Mary Jane’s lawyer has already received a copy of the Indonesian Supreme Court’s decision rejecting the appeal of the Filipino convicted trafficker to re-open her case.
The execution of Veloso and eight other foreigners have been deferred because of the Asia-Africa Conference in Jakarta and Bandung, which will be held from April 18 to April 24. Indonesia said it would proceed with the executions tupon the conclusion of the summit on April 24.
Last Tuesday, the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs said it would file its second appeal for review of Veloso’s case before Indonesia’s high tribunal. A second review is allowed under Indonesian laws, according to Philippine diplomats.
The 30-year-old Mary Jane, a single parent of two children, has been on Indonesia’s death row since 2010. She is from a poor family in Nueva Ecija, the youngest among five children, who only finished first year high school.
In 2010, Mary Jane worked in Dubai as a domestic helper and returned to Manila in distress before her two-year contract was over because she was reportedly almost raped there.
She was offered another job in Kuala Lumpur by a godsister identified only as Christine or Cristina. However, the job was no longer available when Mary Jane arrived in Kuala Lumpur.
According to news reports, Christine told Mary Jane to board an Air Asia flight to Yogjakarta Airport in Indonesia and even gave her a brand new suitcase and US$500 pocket money. Mary Jane reportedly did not have any hint about the contents of the suitcase.
Jane arrived in Yogjakarta on April 25, 2010 and was promptly arrested in possession of 2.6 kilos of heroin.